Device for controlling from outside the members contained within a hermetically sealed box, apt to be immersed into a pressurized ambient



g- 1951 G. PANERAI ET AL 2,995,639

DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING FROM OUTSIDE THE MEMBERS CONTAINED WITHIN AHERMETICALLY SEALED BOX, APT TO BE IMMERSED INTO A PRESSURIZED AMBIENTFiled Aug. 28, 1957 GIUSEFFE PANERA! MARIA PANERA\ IN V EN TORS atentOfiice 2,995,639 Patented Aug. 8, 1961 DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING FROMOUTSIDE THE MEMBERS CONTAINED WITHIN A HERMETI- CALLY SEALED BOX, APT TOBE IMMERSED INTO A PRESSURIZED AMBIENT Giuseppe Panerai and MariaPanerai, Florence, Italy Filed Aug. 28, 1957, Ser. No. 680,832 Claimspriority, application Italy Nov. 2, 1956 4 Claims. (Cl. 200168) Thepresent invention relates to a device for controlling one or moremembers contained within a hermetically sealed box or container fromoutside the box or container, without the necessity of any stufling boxor similar sealing system, and operative to control rotary or axiallymovable elements.

More particularly, this invention provides a unit wherein the elementsto be controlled are comprised of axially movable stems, the movement ofwhich releases and controls the operation of a clockwork or causesanother mechanical unit to operate, said unit being contained within thesealed box surrounding said stems.

According to this invention, said box is arranged within a container towhich the external pressure is admitted; the stems to be controlled passthrough apertures provided in the opposed end walls of the box so as tobe movable axially of the box; the stem ends being covered by elasticmembranes sealingly closing the aforesaid apertures, without hinderingthe axial movements of said stems, although preventing the pressurizedfluid from entering the box. As aforesaid the stems pass through boththe opposed end walls of the box; therefore, by acting through themembranes covering both ends of the stems, the pressure surrounding thebox act on both the ends of said stems and does not affect theirposition.

Furthermore, the device is provided with means, operable at will andarranged outside of the box whereby one or more of said stems can beaxially moved in order to obtain the desired control inside the box.

This invention will be more particularly disclosed in one preferredembodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawing wherein thesole figure shows an axial sectional View of the device.

With reference to the drawing, the device comprises a receptacle 1, inthe shape of a closed cylindrical casing, inside said casing beingcontained a number of stems such as that shown at 2, projecting from theupper and lower end walls of the casing.

On said end walls rest two elastic membranes, 3 and 4 respectively, madeeither of rubber or of a substantially similar elastic material, havingthe shape either of a whole disc or of an annular ring, said membranesbeing blocked between the upper outer container 5 and the lower one 6,so as to obtain a good seal of the casing 1.

The outer pressure which may enter the outer container, does not affectthe position of the stems 2, because said pressure acts to the sameextent on both the lower and upper end surfaces of the stems.

At the top of the container 5 is mounted a knob 8, rotating about acentral shaft thereof and serving to control the device within thecontainer.

The knob 8 carries in its body portion the pin 7 which when the knob isrotated is brought into alignment with the desired stem. In order tolimit the rotational movement of the knob 8 so as to cause the pin 7 tobe aligned with the desired stem, the knob is provided with a smallspring loaded plunger 9 which engages in depressions in the upper wallof outer container 5 so that pin 7 is in alignment with each stem.

When the knob 8 is depressed, which is permitted by the space 20, thepin 7, acting through the membrane 3 causes the stem 2 to movedownwardly an equal distance. The knob 8, when depressed, remains in itsdepressed position because of a spring detent 10 carried by said knoband which enters the recess .11 of the guide shaft extending from thecontainer 5 on which the knob rotates, the detent 10 thus preventing theknob 8 from moving back up.

A second plunger 12, prevented from rotating along with the knob 8 andmovable axially within the top of container 5 by which it is supported,is also acted on by the knob 8 and thus depresses the stem 13.

The stem 13, by means of its arm 14 may, for instance start theoperation of a clockwork the shaft of which causes an inner contact 16of the box to rotate at a predetermined speed. It is to be noted, inthis connection that the clockwork has not been shown in the figure,since it can be of any known type and in that the reference to aclockwork has been made merely as indicative of one of the possibilitiesoffered by the invention, however without limiting in any way the scopethereof.

The contact 16, after a time from the beginning of the movement andstarting depending upon the rotational speed of the shaft 15, impingesagainst the dog 17 carried by the stem 2 which has been lowered (thelowered position has been shown in dotted line in figure). A contact maythen be closed, thus connecting the two terminals 18 and 19.

The closure of the circuit can be made to cause the actions for whichthe circuit has been designed.

It is to be noted that the stem or stems 2 can be provided with a spring21 to urge each stem towards a pre-established position.

We claim:

1. In combination, a hermetically sealed cylindrical casing, said casinghaving a plurality of pairs of aligned bores in opposed end walls ofsaid casing, a rod slidable in each of said bores parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said cylindrical casing, at least one of said rodshaving an actuating means thereon, and membranes on the outside of theend walls of said casing over the ends of said rods and over said boreshermetically sealing said bores, and a knob rotatably mounted on one endof said casing for rotation about the longitudinal axis of said casingand slidable in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said casing,latching means on said knob for latching it in position in the directionof sliding, and means on said knob cooperable with one of said rods forsliding one of said rods in the bores of said casing by pressing on saidmembrane when said knob is moved toward said casing.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which said means on saidknob is a pin projecting toward said casing, said pin being positionedon said knob for alignment with one of said rods at at least one pointin the rotation of said knob.

3. In combination, a hermetically sealed cylindrical casing, said casinghaving a plurality of pairs of aligned bores in opposed end walls ofsaid casing, a rod slidable in each of said bores parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said cylindrical casing, at least one of said rodshaving an actuating means thereon, and membranes on the outside of theend walls of said casing over the ends of said rods and over said boreshermetically sealing said bores, and a knob rotatably mounted on one endof said casing for rotation about the longitudinal axis of said casingand slidable in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said casing,latching means on said knob for latching it in position in the directionof sliding, and means on said knob cooperable with one of said rods forsliding one of said rods in the bores of said casing by pressing on saidmembrane when said knob is moved toward said casing, and a stem mountedon the outside of said cylindrical casing for sliding movement inalignment with one 0 of said rods, said stem always being in a positionto move the rod with which it is in alignment when said knob is movedtoward said casing.

4. In combination, a hermetically sealed cylindrical casing, said casinghaving a plurality of pairs of aligned bores in opposed end walls ofsaid casing, a rod slidable in each of said bores parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said cylindrical casing, at least one of said rodshaving an actuating means thereon, and membranes on the outside of theend walls of said casing over the ends of said rods and over said boreshermetically sealing said bores, and a knob rotatably mounted on one endof said casing for rotation about the longitudinal axis of said casingand slidable in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said casing,latching means on said knob for latching it in position in the directionof sliding, and means on said knob cooperable with one of said rods forsliding one of said rods in the bores of said casing by pressing on saidmembrane when said knob is moved toward said casing, and a stem mountedon the outside of said cylindrical casing for sliding movement inalignment with one of said rods, said stem always being in a position tomove the rod with which it is in alignment when said knob is movedtoward said casing, and a spring loaded detent on said knob engageablewith said casing for indexing the rotation position of said knob.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,515,224 Seltzer Nov. 11, 1924 2,040,919 Caldwell May 19, 19362,213,649 Goodwin Sept. 3, 1940 2,750,480 Freeman June 12, 1956

